TravelStream™ news feed for member lrhalladay on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/lrhalladay en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 23 May 2009 17:52:45 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrhalladay/4/1243115220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrhalladay/4/1243115220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrhalladay/4/1243115220/tpod.html Sat, 23 May 2009 17:52:45 -0400 Quick trip to Napa

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Napa, California, United States

We booked a tour at the Del Dotto winery, which has 'caves' full of barrels of different wines. These wines are all reds, each aging in different types of oak, and each having its own distinct taste. We tasted many, many, wines, some of which are currently sold by Del Dotto, and others that are not yet for sale. After each taste we were told to dump our wine on the floor or walls of the cave; this was not a very formal tasting!

I managed to take a few photos despite the low lights...
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Washington DC, District of Columbia, United States

As stated on the main page, I traveled to Washington DC for a neuroscience conference. Being my first time there, I took plenty of photos and managed to squeeze in as much sightseeing as possible between viewing poster sessions, going to lectures, and chatting with fellow scientists :)
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Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico

I pretty much said it all on the main page- a week in Cabo for spring break... had some coronas, ate some shrimp and lobster, went to tequila bars, haggled for some beads... had a blast!!
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Paris, Île-de-France, France


The first stop on my Contiki tour was Paris. Shortly after arriving, we realized just what the brochure had meant when it said 'budget'. We loaded our things into our cabins (at this point I felt stupid for having complained about the hotel in London being old) and went down to the cook tent for a champagne toast and some escargot.






After our first meal in Paris (at camp, sadly), we got back on the bus for a quick tour of the city. We got a pretty good preview of what lay ahead of us, and got to get off for our first look at the Eiffel Tower.



The next day we were given a map and a really early start to tour whatever we chose in Paris. We started at Notre Dame and worked our way to the Louvre and Arc d' Triomphe (which we paid money to climb, endlessly...), and everything in between (including Les Champs-Elysees for shopping)... For lunch we struggled to order a baguette and crepes from the local French vendors. By the end of the day we were completely exhausted- the bus took us back to camp for dinner, and then shortly thereafter returned is to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower at night. (We also climbed all the way to the top for the amazing view of the city).







After the Eiffel Tower, we went to a bar next door to the Moulin Rouge and hung out for a little while (most of us still struggling to speak to the French people there).







The next morning we woke up early for a trip to Versailles, followed by more free time in Paris. That night we went out as a group for dinner at La Bonne Franquette, where I ate French onion soup, duck, and cheese (for dessert). Dinner was followed by a cabaret show, and of course, more champagne.
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Geneva, Switzerland

Got to take a better look at Geneva today... Took the bus downtown and walked around/window shopped for a few hours. Basically downtown is streets and streets of old buildings that are mostly shops and restaurants- most of the stores are shops like fendi, chanel, louis vuitton... etc, and of course rolex, swatch and other (tons of) watch places and swiss army knife stores.
Downtown is many blocks- so I didn't really get to see a lot, but we're probably going to go back again. (It's right by lake Geneva, which is huge. And the pretty part of the lake, i hear, is further away than where I went). Oh, and no one speaks English. At all.

oh, and some of the cheese here is just too much. Kind of gagged when i walked by one of the cheese/meat stores. and they have cheese as a main staple at breakfast at the hotel. and i accidently bit into cream cheese because the label wasn't english. No pic of that though :)

and i was lucky enough to witness a bizarre swiss parade... apparently it was a DJ parade for a local radio station... hundreds of people were lining up down both sides of one of the main streets downtown, so i stuck around to see what was up (i had no idea what was going on at the time). Pretty soon these buses/trucks started coming down the road- basically there was a parade of party buses (decorated like floats with open tops) filled with drunk and dancing people and strange french music blasting from each one. People were in the streets with their beers dancing too and people like myself were filming and taking photos and looking kind of confused... I took a video but it doesnt really capture the weirdness- just couldn't get it all.








The conference went really well- our lab had several talks and posters that people seemed to be really interested in. We ended up going downtown again a few times for lunch with other 'sciency' people and actually managed to get some sun near the end of the week. Never had time to go to the alps though :( Maybe next time!
(there are more photos than the ones i've weaved into the entry.. fyi)
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Rome, Lazio, Italy















As soon as we arrived in Rome on Saturday afternoon we went to the Vatican (it was closed the next day). I managed to sneak a photo of the Sistine Chapel, but never got to meet the Pope (kidding...). We then went on a walking tour of the city that included the Pantheon. Early the next day we had a professional guide lead us through the ruins and eventually take us to the Colosseum- which was way more amazing than I had anticipated. One cool thing about Rome is that there are just random ruins all around the city, even in the middle of much more modern buildings. After our visit to the Colosseum, we were free to wander around Rome afterward to see any sights we had left on our list. We wound up at Bocca della Verita, or the Mouth of Truth. Story goes: you stick your hand into the mouth of this stone face, and if you're a liar or a thief it will be cut off. Luckily we all came back with both of our hands in tact.

We headed back to camp that night for a final camp barbecue and a farewell party. I really enjoyed my trip, but was so ready to come home!
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Florence, Tuscany, Italy

We stopped to see Pisa on our way to Florence, and it turns out an hour in Pisa is just enough time to see about everything, buy a fake prada purse, and get some gelato and water before heading back to the bus.



In Florence we first visited David (to avoid the lines later)- he was much bigger and more amazing than we'd imagined. For lunch we enjoyed some Italian pizza (again) before heading to the market shops to find some good deals.

We also wandered around the Piazza della Signoria and went to a leather demonstration with the group.



For dinner that night we had a great Tuscan dinner that included antipasti, pasta, chicken, sausage, salad, dessert, and wine. (we all ate too much, even though i KNEW more and more food was to come). That night we went to a local disco (club) for some dancing.
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Venice, Veneto, Italy




We stopped in Verona to see Juliette's famous balcony and the Lovers wall that people write names and messages on. After eating our first Italian gelato (mine was melon and pistachio) we got back on the bus and headed to Venice.





Once in Venice we saw St. Mark's square and the Bridge of Sighs, and also got a chance to see both a lace and glassblowing demonstration (of course the glassblowing was old news to me!).



For lunch we had pizza with proscuitto and some salad. I had to track down a cannoli and Italian cookies for dessert too. After a full day of shopping and wandering around the canals, we all went on gondola rides together. I really loved Venice- just not the humidity and mosquitoes that came along with it!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrhalladay/1/1217294400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrhalladay/1/1217294400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lrhalladay/1/1217294400/tpod.html Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:49:22 -0400 Geneva for science, Brussels for chocolate, and "London to Rome" for... everything else.

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Antibes, Provence, France

Our first stop was a visit to a perfumery, Fragonard. (although I was sure I wouldn't want to buy anything, I wound up needing french perfume after all- "Juste un Baiser," or "just one kiss").
Next we headed to Nice and did some great shopping and eating on the Promenade des Anglais. Later we relaxed on the pebble beach (although it was quite painful walking to the water). After cleaning up from the hot beach, we headed to Monoco and got to see the Royal Palace and the Monte Carlo.





I did play some roulette at the Monte Carlo, but all I left with was a 5euro chip as a souvenir. Oh, and there was that 20 euro drink we bought!
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Lyon, France


After leaving Paris, we set sail for a slower paced stop- we stayed at the Chateau De Cruix in the Beaujolais wine region, near Lyon. We had a day and a half to relax by the poolside and view the French countryside. We got to taste the wines made by the owners of the chateau (as well as purchase some to bring home to our families). We also tried their "Eau de Vie," or Water of Life (soon to be outlawed in France because of the high alcohol content) that is made by fermenting all of the grape skins/branch pieces that are scraped out of the bottom of the vats after all the wine has been pressed out. It was... well... interesting.





On our second day there, we were given a hand-written map and told to navigate through the countryside and vineyards to the 'Top of the World', where we were told the view would be amazing. After being instructed to find a dog that would lead the way (and with baguette-basket in hand) we started our trek. Sure enough, about twenty minutes up the road a little dog came running out of a French-style home and began to run up the path ahead of us. Finding our map utterly useless, we decided to follow the dog- which we assumed would lead to us getting helplessly lost. The dog would run ahead of us up the road along the vineyards and then turn and wait for us to catch up. After about an hour's hike up the hill and through the countryside, we were lead up to the 'Top of the World,' where we enjoyed a wonderful view (and a picnic of baguettes, brie, and fruit). and yes, the dog was with us the whole time, and even followed us back to the Chateau afterwards, where all of us, sweaty and tired, enjoyed laying by (and in) the cold pool.
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